Camden wins CNY wrestling tourney

VERONA - Depth made the difference for Camden at the annual CNY Wrestling Tournament at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill on Saturday.

The Blue Devils had just one champion - a dramatic one at that - but seven other wrestlers placed and at day's end their 134 points was good enough to beat Ilion (120.5), Deposit-Hancock (120), New Hartford (116) and Dolgeville (115) in a great team chase. Tom Confer's upset win at 160 against Oneida's state meet veteran Matt Fisher led the way for coach Bill Sullivan's Blue Devils.

And what a win it was. Easily the most watched of the night, Confer surprised Fisher with two pancakes in the early going. It led to two takedowns plus back points and an 8-1 lead. Fisher escaped late in the second period to cut his deficit to six points heading into the last period then escaped and began a string of takedowns and intentional escapes that narrowed Confer's lead to 9-7 with 40 seconds to go. Fisher gambled on trying for two takedowns in that span instead of going for back points and it paid off as he scored the second with a duck under with eight seconds left.

Fisher held on to force overtime against the tiring Confer but wound up being taken down on a hotly disputed call on the line midway in the OT period. Confer's 13-11 win clinched the team crown.

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VVS had two chances at titles but Gage Patry fell 4-3 to B-G/A's Jamie Griswold at 152 and Lane Frost was taken down as time expired by Holland Patent's Taylor Short and lost 4-3 at 182.

Camden's lone runnerup was Dennis Hilts at 103 and Morrisville-Eaton's Wyatt Morris also took second, but at 285.

hilts fell 3-1 while Morris fell by the same score, except in overtime.